Year One: The Apprentice

[Cortana Jade]

"Boy..." a raspy voice cut through the bustling sound of air coming from the vents above. "I need you to listen." Jed Moonrunner was large and round but built, and he had a head full of grey hair that stopped at his shoulders. He looked experienced in life...his mustache gripped his face and matched his hair in color. Most people would characterized him by his brusque manner, stern demeanor, cautious disposition, and suspicious nature. But his care for others would manifest at times...perhaps he was overly critical but he always understood what was at stake.

"I...I have some business to take care of. I need you to look after the storefront while I'm away. I'd take you with me but someone has to be here...when I return we'll continue your lessons." Then his right eyebrow quickly rose. "Are you hearing me boy!?" His voice gained strength, Jed wasn't the type to have to yell for you to hear him. You always knew. His irritation was more than likely due to the fact that Rebel was propped up against the wall, seemingly unconcerned about what was at stake here.

Then he rolled his eyes, and nodded. "Yeah old man...I hear ya. Look after the shop. Got it." He said tilting his head down and looking straight at the older guy. He even gave him a thumbs up for added affect.

Jed shook his head, a sigh would disperse and then linger before he let go a slight hum. "Rebel..." This time his voice was concerned and father-like...it was all he had to say and then they both knew what he was referring to. Rebel, in return, gave him a slight worried look but the reverted back to his whatever personality. "I..I'll be fine. I swear."

It was no surprise to either of them the struggles Rebel was dealing with concerning his addiction. When he got here...Jed found him near death. It was something they hadn't spoke about but thought about all the time.

A deep breath from the old guy was heard by them both, "Ehh well...brush up on that Ataru while I'm away. I wanna go over it first thing when I get back...because quite frankly you suck." He started to walk away but then planted his foot in the ground which allowed him to pivot as if he forgot something. "Also...take this." He threw a smell chip at the kid, to which Rebel' first reaction was to catch it.

"Keep that on you...It's important. It has information on most of the storehouses that make up this academy network here. If that gets into the wrong hands..." He said cautiously.

"Yeah, I get it. I'll be sure to keep it close."

"Don't get into anything stupid while I'm away...stay put. I'll be back soon."

Jed exited, and Rebel examined the chip closely. He had a strange feeling...couldn't really tell what it was but..."Info on the academy huh?" he spoke to himself. But at least he could hit the urban sprawl now. For actual fun.

Most people knew Jed because of his shop...very few knew of his status as a Jedi but it was no telling when all of that would catch up with him. One could only pray it didn't.

[member="Vrak Nashar"]

 

[Vrak Nashar]

[member="Rebel Sunka"]

This planet was utterly disgusting.

Dirt and grime seemed to line every street corner, the roads themselves were covered in filth, and the people themselves seemed to wallow in squalor as though it were the only home they had ever known. He couldn't help but feel bile rise in his throat as he stalked over the rooftops, his lips thinning as he adjusted the mask upon his face, hoping that it would give him some reprieve from the disgust he currently felt. His hands slowly tightened at his side.

He couldn't believe he was here.

Nar Shaddaa was perhaps the worst world one could ever visit, especially when they despised humanity like Vrak did. The Pureblood already held a low opinions of humans, and this place? This place certainly didn't help. His face twitched slightly as he walked past a vent, his stomach turning as he caught another whiff of some sort of filth he couldn't quite believe existed. The saber-staff at his side swung to the side slightly as he jumped away from the gasp of 'air' that floated from the vent.

"Disgusting." He said to himself, his voice ringing out with robotic undertones through his mask. His tongue flicked out for half a second as he bit back another pool of pile. His entire body seemed to shake for a second, and then he continued on his path over the roof. It was best to try and simply move through it, though he reminded himself to fit a rebreather to his mask in case he ever had to go to a place like this again.

Slowly Vrak moved towards the edge of the building, eyes floating towards a figure moving through the crowd.

His lips thinned, his gaze flicking towards a shop in the distance.

 

[Cortana Jade]

He'd heard the intro music to the news and stopped when he walked passed. Often Jed would watch the news when it had something to do with the Alliance seeing as how he was apart but so far away. Seems they were featuring a couple of the more prominent members, very few he knew but had seen in passing. Though he noticed [member="Aela Talith"] was one of the people they were talking about. He nodded in satisfaction. He'd heard of her accolades and accomplishments, "Damn...she's foxy huh?" he turned to one of the maintenance droids and was met with a series of boops and beeps.

"To be young and rewarded like that?" He said with a slight shrug, "That's a dream. I remember I seen her in passing one time...she's definitely hot. She barely noticed me but...I won't tell anyone that part." Yeah maybe it wasn't the best thing to talk about, but ehh he lacked all proper training. "Soon..." He looked over at the maintenance droids, then he shoved it and walked off.

"I'm hitting the town...gotta seize this moment while I can before the big bantha comes back." He grabbed his jacket off the hook and threw it on, and walked towards the door. Unbothered originally, he stopped just at the entrance and turned before walking towards the table where he grabbed the lightsaber that Jed gave to him.

Sigh.

"This raggedy weapon...when I got a lightsaber I assumed it'll be nice and shiny." He turned to the droid, "I'll brush up on my Ataru on the way to the Cantina aye?" His next action was to go for the door again, but then it hit him. "Chit...the chip" He rushed and grabbed it off the counter before sliding it into his inside pocket.

"Jed would have had my head on a stick...literally." He shut down the store, and began transversing the streets which were moderately filled. He began to light a cigarette, covering the lighter as he appeared distracted for a minute.

Then he had to center himself, usually these cigarettes helped him cope. His mind was full of flashbacks to his near-death experience...

Sigh.

He blew a cloud of smoke.

[member="Vrak Nashar"]

 

[Vrak Nashar]

[member="Rebel Sunka"]

Vrak watched as the door to the shop opened, his eyes locking onto the figure that stepped out. For a moment his lips thinned, the macro-binoculars built into his HUD quickly zooming in on the man who stepped out the door. He frowned for a moment, not recognizing the figure.

The intelligence he'd received was hardly one hundred percent, there was still a chance this would all turn out to be nothing, but he had to at least try. Ordinarily he would have sent one of his servants to do this, but with his resources stretched so thin he couldn't afford it. Sera had been dispatched to Athiss, Elrich to Bastion, and the others wouldn't have been good enough for this job. No, this was up to him, as much as he hated being upon this filthball of a world.

He shook his head.

The figure began to wander down the streets, heading to wherever.

For now there were too many people on the streets to take the boy, and the man that had left earlier hadn't gone anywhere private. Following the boy was his best option, and so he quickly slipped back into the shadows, eyes following the young man as he began to move through the streets of Nar Shaddaa.

The light of the cigarette was a handy guide when the neon lights of the street failed him, a tiny bulb of light that he could follow.

 

[Cortana Jade]

Held gripped the cigarette with the left side of her mouth, and blew the smoke out the right. Throwing the lighter in his coat pocket he twisted and turned his body to maneuver. While he'd had a weird feeling, he hadn't learned to trust his awareness the way more trained users did. Honestly, he'd grown accustomed to the watch your back feeling.

His current goal was to make it to The Docks, last time he'd went out he discovered this bar. Saw a Twi'lek chick that'd found interest in. Maybe she'd be there tonight?

He hit a right, and took a short cut to the platforms on the other side. He blew a cloud of smoke that his body punctured at the center. He emerged on the other sides and the neon lights reflected off his skin. He suddenly stopped and turned around because he thought he heard something. While his Force sense was still in the works, his natural senses had always come in handy.

His eyes slowly came to a squint, for a brief moment he shut everything off and focused in on what was in his field of vision.

"Hmm?"

[member="Vrak Nashar"]

 

[Vrak Nashar]

[member="Rebel Sunka"]

Vrak stalked through the darkness of the alleyway that the boy had just traversed.

He tried to keep his footsteps muted as a cloud of smog rolled through the dark. The Sith had never really been the best when it came to stealth, not really. He hadn't trained to hide himself or tuck himself away in the darkness. He was made for something else, for combat and death. Sera had tried to instruct him on how to move silently, though the exercise had taken several hours and really only ended with both of them extremely aggravated.

In the end, Vrak simply decided that stealth wasn't necessary.

As he stepped through the cloud of rolling filth a loud snap-hiss rang out, one side of his saber-staff igniting in a bright crimson haze. The blade seemed to cut through the darkness of the alleyway, immediately highlighting his robe figured, the mask on his face glowing slightly beneath the crimson light.

Before the boy could run or react, Vrak lifted his off-hand.

Powerful chains of the force sought to wrap around the boy, tight wrappings that would surge around him and force him from his feet, pulling him towards The Pureblood within the darkness.

 

[Cortana Jade]

Well his smoke lingered for a minute, and then suddenly he saw someone emerge from it. His eyebrow rose and his body did a full pivot. Well he thought maybe he was overthinking things, but an ominous feeling suddenly shot through his body and he couldn't move. In that moment he saw a crimson blade suddenly sprout to life and then it made sense. His lips parted and before then he hadn't any control over his body.

"What the hell...I can't move..." His mind shouted, "Move...move!"

Then the pressure surrounding his body grew in intensity when he realize it was the figure who was in control. He slowly rose from his feet and his mind raced as it lost control of his body.

Grunt.

"Wha...what do you want?" He squirmed as he floated through the air and towards his predator.

Was this what Jed had to handle? Hell did he even know...He'd only heard of these color weapons before...and they weren't of the Jedi. Chit, he couldn't go like this...he'd just begun to find himself. Soon his body would be enveloped in the shroud of darkness, where no one would likely see him.

Chit, what was he to do now?

[member="Vrak Nashar"]

 

[Vrak Nashar]

[member="Rebel Sunka"]

Vrak didn't answer.

Anything he said would likely have been lost on the boy. He was a human, their understanding of matters both big and small was...limited. On top of that he had already been indoctrinated by the Jedi, that meant he was even more of a fool.

No, it was easier just to kill him.

The fingers on his free hand tightened and curled, the force that wrapped around the boy would grow stronger, and then suddenly the young Jedi would feel a sudden jerk. The Pureblood wasted no time at all, tossing the boy like a rag doll against the wall beside him. There was no emotion to him as he did this, no rage to his body language, no sound that came from beneath his mask. He didn't hate this boy, he didn't know him.

To Vrak, this boy was simply another thing.

Another waste of potential that might have eventually overcome the limitations of his birth.

Too bad really.

 

[Cortana Jade]

He collided with the cement wall beside him, being launched into it via the manipulation of [member="Vrak Nashar"] A thump, and then a grunt could be heard. The wind was knocked out of him as he slid towards the ground. Despite the pain in the back of his head and all through his back the adrenaline picked up and he slowly began to push himself up. His vision was blurry and he was seeing double due to the blow he suffered. In his irritation and will to survive he threw his hand out in multiple directions at whichever figure he thought was the real one.

Rebel lacked the control and concentration for him to land a successful attack but debris and garbage cans were surely flung from his position and towards his pursuer. That was pretty much all he could do in the moment. In his anger his abilities were driven by aggression and powerful, a potential he could reach back lacked refinement enough to control it.

In that moment he pulled himself up and went for the exit, stumbling and falling off his feet when he got to the street. The entire time he tried to run he would throw his hand back and whatever he could manipulate via the Force was throw or pushed behind him with no sense of where his enemy was.

Uhmph.

"What the hell...get up!" He thought to himself as he began to push himself up off the ground. He reached for his lightsaber and gripped the railing just in front of him to pull his body up, when he got to his knee his back jolted in pain. Gritting his teeth, he forced himself through it and tried to turn his body around so that he could see what was really going on.

"I'm too young to die here..." He thought to himself.

 

[Vrak Nashar]

[member="Rebel Sunka"]

His lightsaber flicked up again and again, slicing through the objects that were tossed his way. A scowl carried on his face.

This world was filled with more garbage than just it's people. It seemed that the streets themselves were littered with everything from old holo-screens to rotten food. Disgust ran through him as he sliced through something else, the crimson blade carving through a metallic beam that the boy had thrown towards him. The Pureblood scowled, his lip snarling as he jumped forward and ducked beneath the next object, his free hand reaching out.

Bright purple crackles of lightning rushed from him.

Power surged from his fingertips, Sith Lightning that seemed to spark and jump through the air.

The ozone around them began to burn, the bright sparks bounding forward like a pack of wolves aiming to catch the boy in the back.

 

[Cortana Jade]

His knee came up and then gravity pulled it back down. Before he knew it he had purple streaks surging throughout his body. Then, his mind registered the pain and felt the shock. Tightening his grip around the rail so that he wouldn't fall all the way to the ground, he screamed at the lightning jolted through his back and spread across his body. Screams from surround civilians arose and all he could feel was the rumbling of the platform as people rushed to get away from the fighting.

Arghh.

After it all he fell against the rail, which kept him from falling into a pit that was ventilating smoke upwards. His breathing picked up, and with as his body exhausted smoke he rose to his feet with his knees buckling. He battled for balance but his back hand kept him propped up as he reconfigured control back over his body.

Haunched over slightly, he brought up his lightsaber and after pressing the ignition button it produced a yellow blade. Stumbling, he planted his left foot forward to catch himself while he gripped the hilt with both of his hands. Forcing a smirk, his bloodied lip began to part; he'd bitten it at some point. He spoke words,

"Your gonna have to try harder if you wanna kill me...I've been through worse."

Obviously this guy was much stronger than him, Rebel could only prolong the inevitable if anything. It was times like this that he wished he'd listened to Jed, but ehhh rebelling was his thing.

"Bring that fire baby." and he spit out a little blood that began to flood his mouth.

[member="Vrak Nashar"]

 

[Vrak Nashar]

[member="Rebel Sunka"]

Vrak didn't respond. He didn't need to. He could already see the boy wavering, the slight hint of fear in his eyes. The Pureblood stalked forward, the clouded mists within the alleyway still obscuring him somewhat even as he moved closer, his eyes slowly faded over towards the yellow blade the boy was holding. His lips thinned for a moment, his own crimson Lightsaber still burning brightly within his hand. The low thrum of the weapons echoed.

"Give me the chip." His voice rung out from behind the mask, a low robotic thrum.

The Pureblood didn't particularly care if the boy lived or died, as far as Vrak was concerned he was nothing, just another obstacle in his path. There had been many of those as of late, and in truth he was growing more and more tired of them.

Athiss, Maleagant, that Pyne queen, all of them had become little more than obstacles in his way. Each of them would have to be eliminated in turn, and each of them were a thousand times more important than this boy. If Vrak had to kill him then he would, but this entire situation could be made much more simple if he simply cooperated.

Slowly The Pureblood stalked forward, grip tightening on his saber.

 

[Cortana Jade]

"The chip?" He thought to himself, he was taken back. it made sense...

He reached into his coat pocket with his free hand and pulled out the datachip Jed gave him, examining it for a moment...then he turned his attention back to [member="Vrak Nashar"] the boys face scrunched up as he seemed determined. "It's all on you now...don't ruin this" he spoke to himself before holding a fist up that clenched the chip into the folds of his hand.

"You want this chip? Your gonna have to kill me..." He spoke those words at a moment where it seemed everything fell silent. Something for the dramatics aye. He brought his blade back up, seemingly forgetting the pain but noting that his legs still felt light.

"What the hell did I get myself into?"

If it were true what Jed said...then

This chip held the locations of the storehouses here, and if it fell into the wrong hands he'd literally F up a legacy. "Chit" he said under his breath. "Just...survive" he repeated soon after.

"Hey...eat hemp and chit rope."

Then he thought maybe he should've uhm brushed up on that Ataru...though his wasn't completely terrible.

 

[Vrak Nashar]

[member="Rebel Sunka"]

Well, perhaps the boy had lived a good enough life. Perhaps he simply didn't care about what would happen to him. Vrak didn't really care, he just let out a sigh. The Pureblood didn't understand the resistance, he didn't understand why they fought. It would have been so much easier if they just laid down and died, so much easier if they just did as they were told. He scowled behind his mask, continuing to step forward even as the Jedi swept his lightsaber up and into a defensive stance.

Vrak wouldn't spare a minute.

He didn't care what the boy decided, he didn't care what he wanted or whether or not he survived. All Vrak wanted was that chip and what was on it, if he had to kill this Jedi just to get it? Then he would. There was no moral quandary to that question. His lightsaber flicked up and forward, scratching at the deck below.

Metal sparks flew towards the boy, super heated metal straight towards his face.

A second later Vrak dashed forward.

His lightsaber slashed towards the boy's legs, his free hand reaching out in a balled fist to strike the boys face and send him to the floor.

 

[Cortana Jade]

Gasp.

Air escaped him as he covered his face with his left arm. His forearm blocked his face and he leaned over on his right side to keep the sparks from colliding with his face. The sleeve of his jacket heated up quick but in the moment he couldn't think about it too much. Reacting, he tightened his grip around his lightsaber hilt managed to block his attack to his legs, but he wasn't speedy enough to remove himself from the path of [member="Vrak Nashar"] punch.

A loud grunt escaped him when the skin on is face formed ridged from the force behind the impact. His body was taken by gravity and throw towards the ground. Before he fell he managed to step forward with his right foot but that only temporarily kept him from hitting the ground. Unable to catch his balance he fell forward and slid.

Ugghhh.

He gritted his teeth and sucked the air between them as his face stung. He'd surely be bruised. Though he felt the air of danger climb up his back and force his neck hairs to stand up, thinking about the moment he rolled out of the way to put some distance between them. He assumed the guy would come at him with his blade. Well...he didn't want to be split down the middle that easily.

"Get yourself together!" His mind was screaming his thoughts but his body wasn't reacting fast enough.

 

[Vrak Nashar]

[member="Rebel Sunka"]

Vrak stalked forward.

He was sick of all these impediments. Children standing in his way. Padawans reaching above their class. It was almost as disgusting as this planet. His lips turned to a scowl, his eyes setting on the boy as he rolled backwards and tried to put distance between the two of them. The Pureblood scowled, stepping forward through the rolling fog that seemed to cling to him like a personal mist. He stepped forward, following the boy as he took another step back.

His free hand lurched up.

A torrent of lightning once again escaped from his palm, deep, dark purple crackles of energy that jumped and bounded forward, uncaring of what they struck. The Force Lightning seemed to rip and bound off everything in front of Vrak, biting into garbage and scrap metal, jumping from place to place and even rebounding slightly onto The Pureblood.

He scowled, but continued his assault.

The other end of his lightsaber sprang into life, both sides of the saber-staff ignited as he moved forward, lightning still crackling.

 

[Cortana Jade]

Then there was the lightning, he forgot about that in his attempt to avoid the mans blade. Seeing the web of his Sith lightning spread across the vicinity forced him to roll slightly faster as it inched closer and closer to his body whenever he came around fully. Avoiding it almost barely, his last roll would have enough momentum behind it where he could jump back up to his feet.

He his suddenly jerked to the right, his gaze taken by something else just before he turned it back to his opponent. His face was bruised from the punch and his lip busted at this point. He was accustomed to beatings but...this one saw all the odds against him. He had to think because this surely wasn't a game. A bolt that rebound off a scrap of metal hit him in the shoulder, which made his body jerk in that direction. Stepping backwards he noticed one of the dumpsters of garbage in the way of his onslaught. Rebel reached out with both of his hands, planting his feet into the ground and avoiding the way of lightning coming his way for the moment. Through strain, which was evident in his face, he utilized the force to pulled that dumpster from its spot and sending it sliding towards Vrak from his right. The boys hands moved in one motion from left to right as he pulled the object along, fighting through the bolts of lightning that did collide with his body.

He was only able to do such a thing through adrenaline and aggression, until now he hadn't showed such a feet. Near death experiences did that. Knowing that would not be enough to stop him, his ignited his blade and with the basic kinetics of Ataru taught to him by Jed, he bent his legs at the knee and pushed up to launch himself in the air. His mid-air somersault was an attempt at attack him from above as he was also dealing with a heavy object sliding towards him.

Gliding over the man, he landed on his feet but stumbled forward a couple of steps. When he regained his balance he twisted his frame and brought his lightsaber up in a guard across his body.

"Uhh...that's pretty much all I could think of right now." His thoughts echoed through his head while he was live.

[member="Vrak Nashar"]

 

[Vrak Nashar]

[member="Rebel Sunka"]

His lightsaber flicked forward in an instant, one end of the saber-staff catching the dumpster and slicing through it. The smell of burnt, hot garbage instantly filled the air, the crimson blades of the saber-staff slashing all the way through the metal dumpster and leading above him. A splatter of something, likely some disgusting liquid that had collected in the bottom of the dumpster caught him on his robes, a bit of bile rising in his throat as the saber-staff carried through with it's cut.

As the boy jumped over him Vrak twisted slightly, using the force to push the dumpster away and allowing him to avoid the boys lightsaber.

Instead the bright yellow blade caught the edge of the dumpster, burning sparks jumping onto Vrak's robe and half catching it on fire as The Pureblood moved to the side. A curse escaped him, the flames singeing his skin for just a moment before he put out the flames. As he turned the boy landed on his feet just a few meters away, his lightsaber flicking up in a defense guard. The Pureblood scowled, watching the boy for a moment before he suddenly charged.

With a recklessness born only of a SIth, Vrak moved against the man.

In an instant The Pureblood was upon him, his lightsaber slashed forward with a fury, his open palm pushing towards the man to send him back against the far wall.

 

[Cortana Jade]

His eyes got wide when the man would scowl at him, granted he didn't mean to set his robe on fire it just sort of happened. Then he glared back as he got serious. Before he knew it, this man was upon him. Rebel brought up his weapon and was able to parry his initial attack, his counter would see the boy launched himself into the air while bringing his lightsaber up and back in a two handed grip. He was going for a powerful downward sweep.

However, before he knew it he was launched into the far wall upon making eye contact with his opponent' open palm. He was thrown, mid-air, backwards and his back collided with the durasteel wall. A thud could be heard, and a loud grunt as the wind was nearly knocked out of him. His back had already been sore, so when he made contact with the wall all the pain receptors in his back area had a ball.

He slid down the metallic surface, and while he landed on his feet they nearly gave out from under him. His left did for sure, but his right allowed him to prop himself up. "What's taking you so long to kill me..." He mocked, he spit out some blood that just been caught in the crevice of his bottom lip.

"Come and get this chip!"

[member="Vrak Nashar"]

 

[Vrak Nashar]

[member="Rebel Sunka"]

His patience was running ever thinner.

Eventually someone would notice the little scuffle. Here on Nar Shaddaa street fights weren't all that uncommon. Gangs or individual muggers fought with one another all the time, vibro-blades and blasters were more than just a usual sight here, but lightsabers? That was something else. The flashes of their blades would eventually be seen, and then no matter what Vrak did he would be faced with half a dozen people who either wanted to speak to him or kill him for whatever reason.

He scowled. "Die."

His lightsaber flicked forward once again, crimson blade striking into the metal ground to send another spew of sparks directly towards the boys face. This time however Vrak didn't follow up with a slash of the lightsaber or even a charge.

Instead his free hand came up, the force seeking out and attempting to grasp the boy, binding him in invisible chains of the force that would wrap around his throat and begin to choke him.